Florian Triangle, Thriller Bark.
Kalifa raised her head and looked at Luffy on the sofa. "I did what you asked. Can you return our hearts now?"
"Congratulations. As expected from a secretary, taking a break in the middle of the shift is really nice."
Luffy praised her, "It seems your loyalty to the World Government is nothing more than that, but you value your comrades' lives more."
For people like Rob Lucci, the purpose of joining CP9 wasn't to contribute to the government but simply for the "privilege to kill."
When he was 13, 500 soldiers of a kingdom were captured by pirates who demanded ransom from the king.
The government sent him to solve the problem, and the guy ended up killing the hostages along with the pirates.
"Law, remove the hearts from all four."
Upon receiving the order, Law acted quickly, and in the blink of an eye, another heart was in front of Luffy.
After finishing, he asked, confused, "What's the purpose of this? Are you worried about an ambush?"
"I have a whale named Laboon on my crew, and she has a large internal space—big enough for our ship—to dive directly to the ocean's bottom.
The Sabaody Archipelago is not a mandatory stop."
Upon hearing this, Law looked even more confused:
"Then why?"
"I'm going to meet someone."
Luffy handed over the hearts and said to Bartolomeo, "Take them back to the ship."
"Yes, Luffy-sama!"
Bartolomeo immediately took the four away.
Law looked back and asked, "Who?"
"A man who knows the whole story."
Luffy got up and returned to the dining room.
He was going to see Rayleigh.
It wasn't that he wanted to learn anything, and Rayleigh couldn't teach him anything.
As a member of Roger's crew who reached the final island, Rayleigh knew the whole truth.
He just wanted to know exactly where the final island was.
If he could find a shortcut, he'd be happy to try.
Returning to the dining table, Luffy received a system notification.
[Roronoa Zoro awakens Armament Haki]
[Host gained: 3000 Adventure Coins]
Luffy was a bit surprised when he suddenly received the prompt.
Zoro fought Ryoma and awakened?
He had been training for a month but couldn't achieve it.
Does he grow faster when fighting?
Irrational...
You know, in the original story, Koby worked 200 times harder than normal people. In just two years, he evolved from a small fish on Alvida's ship to an incredible level.
Stress must make people grow!
Well, there's nothing wrong with that.
Putting that aside, Luffy smiled and said to everyone:
"Enjoy the feast to the fullest!"
Afternoon...
Though morning and afternoon aren't really visible on Thriller Bark.
The Straw Hat crew rested, said farewell to Moria's lair, and headed to the next destination.
Law has his own ship, the submarine Polar Tang, and there's no problem incorporating it into the fleet, and all members of his crew also joined.
As for Moria...
Naturally, his Thriller Bark had to be left behind here, and he only brought a few frames and some zombies.
He simply had other ships that also joined the fleet.
But before leaving, Moria released a large number of shadows, and countless black shadows appeared everywhere on the Thriller Bark ship, which was also a spectacle.
In short, the current Straw Hat fleet expanded to five ships!
They are: the main ship Sunny, the Merry of the 1st Division, the Ark Maxin of the 2nd Division, the Thriller Bark of the 3rd Division, and the Polar Tang of the 4th Division.
"Let's head to the Sabaody Archipelago!"
Following the captain's command, the five ships began sailing.
Sunny.
Perona sat kneeling on the deck, her face covered with cold sweat.
In front of her was the female army.
"Perona?" Robin smiled like a true daughter of the devil.
"Ahahaha, she's fallen into our hands, Robin, how should we deal with this little girl?" Valentine's eyes were teasing.
"Don't call her a little girl. Don't look at her small and cute appearance—she's actually a 23-year-old woman." Robin crossed her arms with her fingers and looked down.
"I can't take it anymore!"
"I'm a little angry too now." Golden Week licked a lollipop.
Only Kaya convinced me: "Everyone will live on this ship in the future, don't cause trouble."
Apparently, her statement had no effect.
Nami and Vivi watched everything from the sidelines.
They weren't attacked by Perona's ghost. To be more precise, they escaped before being penetrated.
"Nami, don't you mind?" Vivi whispered.
"If you do something wrong, you should be punished. Robin, I support you!" Nami didn't think it was a big deal.
Luffy looked back amused; it was really interesting to see women fighting.
He opened the system prompt.
[You recruited new crew member Trafalgar D. Water Law] [Reward: 1000 Adventure Coins]
Good system, you just revealed his real name.
However... 1000 Adventure Coins is the highest amount he has received so far for recruiting someone.
Probably because of the Ope Ope no Mi.
Because of Law joining, the Heart Pirates members were also included in the Straw Hat Fleet.
The number of people wasn't large, but together with Law's thousand coins, a total of 1,500 Adventure Coins were obtained.
In contrast, Moria gave him 1,800.
[Adventure Coins]: 21245 → 27545
In the blink of an eye, two days passed.
The Sabaody Archipelago was already visible to the naked eye.
---
Marine Headquarters.
A temporarily rebuilt office.
Akainu was shirtless, with a long wound on his chest, bandaged.
Suddenly, a young man ran in:
"Admiral Akainu! Important information has arrived! A pirate ship flying the Straw Hat Pirates flag has docked at the Sabaody Archipelago!"
"What?"
Akainu frowned. "What is that pirate doing now?"
Where is the Sabaody Archipelago? Less than an hour from Marine Headquarters!
"It's a direct order from the Five Elders, Admiral Akainu. The Five Elders ordered you to capture, no... kill the Straw Hat!"
"Are you sure?" Akainu froze for a moment.
Though he didn't want to admit it, Straw Hat Luffy's combat power was very high. It would be better to leave him alone, because if a fight breaks out, the Sabaody Archipelago might be destroyed.
"Yes. I also contacted Admiral Kizaru and Admiral Aokiji. The Straw Hat Crew must be defeated at all costs!"
The Vice Admiral was also shocked, not understanding why he received such an order.
But he could only pass it on faithfully.
"I see."
Akainu stood expressionless, put on his Justice Cape, and left immediately.
---
(End of chapter)
"Hmph. If you really want to be useful, then entertain me, try to throw those pathetic power stones at me. Let's see if even your insolence can amuse a king."